Hot Chocolate Gift Jars; Easy, Free and Green

By: Heather Bitzer

Okay… I admit it. I haven’t posted anything for a really looong time! In fact, Montcomom herself is probably on the floor in shock after seeing my name pop up on the Blogger account today.

So, what in the world is exciting enough to pluck me from my novel writing to shout from the Suburban Social Media rooftop?

Hot Chocolate Gift Jars! (Yes, I AM serious.)

If you’re anything like me, you’ve known about these little mix projects for years, but filed the idea away in the “looks cute, but I’ll probably never get around to it,” box…along with all of that scrapbooking you keep promising yourself you’ll catch up on….
Anyway, my BFF and I rescued a bunch of spaghetti sauce jars from the recycle bin today and got to work with the kids. Our kids are 18mos, 3 and 4. This craft was age-appropriate fun for everyone and best of all… practically FREE!
I already told you about the sauce jars (Classico’s are the prettiest), but the other free/re-purposed items we used were:

• 2 Bags of powdered milk left over from Hurricane Irene (use them before they expire, ladies!).
• Nesquik chocolate powder that I already had in my pantry.
• Berry picks pulled from an old garland in my Christmas decoration graveyard.
• Colorful fabric squares cut from one of my husband’s old flannels.
• Ribbon…. I have enough ribbon in the basement to get me on an episode of Hoarders.

The only thing we had to buy was mini marshmallows… and turns out they were free for me too since Carly bought them on her way over and I forgot to pay her back!

Using a mix ratio of 6 tablespoons of chocolate for every 1 1/2 cups of powdered milk, we layered the ingredients into our 1 pint jars. Then the kids loaded marshmallows all the way up to the top. To finish, we decorated the lid using the ribbon, berries and a hand written label.

The big thing for the older kids was pouring the dry ingredients. Once everything was measured into the pitcher, they were able to do it themselves, resulting in a real sense of accomplishment. Adding the marshmallows was the high point for my littlest one. The look of pride on her sweet little face was what I kept in my head during the cleanup phase. Excessive milk dust was the only drawback of an otherwise enjoyable activity!

Montco Mom Heather is a former pediatric nurse turned mom to two lovely little ladies.

*add contents of jar to 4 cups hot water to yield 4 servings